UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Sept 13

* GVC: Gambling firm GVC Holdings Plc said on Thursday it had identified an extra 30 million pounds in cost savings from its 4-billion-pound purchase of Ladbrokes Coral as it reported solid half year results and a surge in revenue in July and August.

* OPHIR ENERGY: Ophir Energy has written down the value of its struggling Equatorial Guinea natural gas project by $310 million, it said on Thursday, while also announcing plans to cut jobs in London and move its headquarters to Asia to lower costs.

* SKY: Comcast Corp’s bid of 14.75 pound for each Sky Plc share will now remain open for acceptance until early October, the U.S. cable giant said on Wednesday, adding that it has received valid acceptances for shares representing 0.29 percent of Sky to date.

* SPORTS DIRECT: Britain’s Sports Direct officially ruled out a takeover bid for Debenhams on Wednesday after an outgoing director of the sportswear firm said the board had discussed combining the department store group with House of Fraser.

* RBS: Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc could use up to 4 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) of surplus capital to pay a special one-off dividend to shareholders, the bank’s Chairman Howard Davies told the Times in an interview on Wednesday.

* GOLD: Gold prices on Thursday held steady near a more than one-week high hit in the previous session, with hopes for a new round of U.S.-China trade talks weighing on the dollar.

* The UK blue chip index closed up 0.55 percent up at 7,313.36 points on Wednesday as stronger crude prices and a rally in tobacco stocks gave it a boost while a profit warning hit energy provider SSE.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY’S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * For Top News : topnews.reuters.com (Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru)